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The view from here

Posted on February 28, 2017

TCS senior Adam Isabell

This week’s blog brings a different perspective from guest blogger and TCS senior Adam Isabell. Whether your child is in kindergarten or high school, Adam offers great advice for parents and students about the process of preparing for college. Thanks, Adam, for sharing your view.

During the second half of my Junior year, I thought that I didn’t really have to worry about starting the college process; I honestly thought that I would take care of most of it in the last few weeks of high school. As it turns out, this was woefully incorrect. Fortunately, I had parents and grandparents familiar with the process that cracked the whip early on. A couple of things they had me do, and that all juniors and late seniors should do in order to get the college ball rolling early on, are: research potential colleges, schedule an SAT or ACT, fill out forms like FAFSA, and, once a few colleges have been decided on, just call a recruiter and ask what you should be doing to increase your likelihood of acceptance.

The last step was the most crucial for me personally. For a number of years, I’ve had my eye on Patrick Henry College, a small Christian college in Purcellville, Virginia, but until my parents quite literally sat me down and put a phone in my hand, the thought to simply call, introduce myself, and ask what steps I needed to take if I wanted to apply simply hadn’t occurred to me. As intimidating as the idea may sound to some, most college recruiters have plenty of experience with people entirely unfamiliar with the nuances of applying, and will gladly guide you through the process, tell you what you can take part in to increase your chances of receiving certain scholarships, and even give advice on what classes you should take to prepare for their curriculum. Thanks to all of this, I am proud to say that I was accepted at Patrick Henry over the summer, and thanks to my early preparation I’m first in line for many of their scholarships and grants.

I think all I can say in closing is that I truly cannot stress enough how vital it is, particularly for the procrastinators among us, to understand that it is never too early to start when it comes to planning your future.